KnoWhy #756 | October 8, 2024
How Does 3 Nephi Dovetail with the So-Called Forty-Day Literature?
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
“And no tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.” 3 Nephi 17:17
The Know
While the New Testament famously records the ministry and sacred teachings of Jesus Christ during His mortal ministry and provides a few paragraphs about His post-Resurrection appearances, the clearest and most extensive scriptural account of Jesus’s ministry after His Resurrection is found in the Book of Mormon. Throughout 3 Nephi 11–28, Jesus’s teachings present profound truths and insights that build upon and reflect His teachings found throughout scripture, including what He taught during His mortal ministry. These sacred truths were delivered “soon after the ascension of Christ into heaven” as recorded in Acts 1:9–11 and would therefore represent key teachings delivered in close proximity to Jesus’s mortal ministry about what Jesus most desired His new Church to know and practice now that He had fulfilled His mortal mission (3 Nephi 10:18).
Remarkably, many aspects of Jesus’s ministry in the Book of Mormon reflect teachings attributed to the resurrected Jesus in early Christian literature outside of the New Testament, much of which literature was not known until well after the Book of Mormon was published in 1830. The Latter-day Saint scholar Hugh Nibley was one of the first to seriously examine what he called the forty-day literature and how it can be read and understood by modern readers and scholars as a coherent reflection of historical teachings of the resurrected Jesus Christ.1 These texts were so named because of their interest in what might have been taught when, as Luke recorded, Jesus was “seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). They claim to offer teachings delivered by the resurrected Jesus before His ascension into heaven. Most of these texts typically discuss the Apostasy, sacred ordinances, salvation for the dead, and the Resurrection.2
Nibley observed, “If we set [the forty-day literature] over against the long account of [the high priest] Nephi, the latter takes its place in the bona fide apocalyptic library so easily and naturally.”3 Furthermore, Nibley argued that “with the title removed, any scholar would be hard put . . . to detect [the Book of Mormon’s] irregular origin” of having come from outside that early Christian corpus.4 Indeed, the same four themes Nibley identified in the forty-day literature are present in 3 Nephi 11–28, and they have strong parallels to numerous early Christian texts in several ancient languages. Nibley especially compared the account in 3 Nephi to an ancient text called the Coptic Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, first discovered in 1904, but his findings are typical of the entire genre.5 Consider the following four themes.
1. Prophecies of the Apostasy
Both the Old World forty-day literature and the Book of Mormon include prophecies of a coming apostasy. In both cases, as Nibley put it, “the glad message of the resurrection and the glorious unifying of the saints is saddened, dampened by the forthright declaration that the church is only to survive for a limited time.”6 This is evident from certain passages in the New Testament but is even more explicit in other early Christian texts such as The Epistle of the Apostles.7 In that text, the Apostles related how the Lord told them that “darkness, and drought, and persecution of those who believe in me, and of the elect” would certainly come. This would happen alongside the arrival of “some who believe in my name and (yet) follow evil and teach vain teaching,” who would lead many away for the riches of the world.8 Another early text, known as The Testament of Our Lord, similarly describes how evil shepherds will arise in Christian congregations to lead the people astray.9
This is closely mirrored by the Lord’s declaration to the twelve Nephite disciples in the New World:
It sorroweth me because of the fourth generation from this generation, for they are led away captive by him even as was the son of perdition; for they will sell me for silver and for gold, and for that which moth doth corrupt and which thieves can break through and steal. And in that day will I visit them, even in turning their works upon their own heads. (3 Nephi 27:32)
Unfortunately, “on both hemispheres the people of the church were only too willing to forget such disturbing prophecies” as time passed.10
2. Performance of Sacred Ordinances and the Need for Secrecy
Second, the forty-day literature and 3 Nephi both describe the required performance of sacred ordinances.11 These ordinances could include the reception of sacred garments; The Second Book of Jeu mentions that Christ “made all the disciples to be clothed in linen garments.”12 Similarly, Jesus is noted as wearing exceedingly white garments, and He encourages the Nephites to “put on thy beautiful garments,” in a citation from Isaiah (3 Nephi 19:25; 20:36). In the Coptic Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, Jesus is noted as sharing a sacred meal with the Apostles and again administering the sacrament, just as He does with the Nephite disciples (see 3 Nephi 18:1–11). Both texts also mention holy visions of the heavens being given to certain disciples.13
These texts also include sacred teachings that could not be shared openly. Mormon recorded, for instance, that many Nephites “saw and heard unspeakable things, which are not lawful to be written” (3 Nephi 26:18, see also verse 16). In other cases, the Nephite record simply states, “No tongue can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak” (3 Nephi 17:17). The need for some teachings to be limited only to those initiated was also observed by the Church Fathers in the Old World, as seen in Origin’s writings in Contra Celsus.14
3. Jesus’s Descent into the World of the Dead
Third, in many of the accounts of the forty-day ministry, Jesus teaches His Apostles about His descent to the realms of the dead. This is often called the kerygma, or “the preaching,” in these texts because they relate how Jesus informed the dead about how they could receive the seal of baptism and other ordinances even though they had died.15 As Nibley summarized, “He brings the kerygma to all, and those who accept it follow him out of the depths into the light, receive baptism, and hence mount up by degrees to realms of glory.”16
While the mention of Jesus’s descent to the spirits in Sheol, or the world of the dead, is absent from the Book of Mormon, Hugh Nibley has observed that a type of the same descensus and kerygma is found in the Book of Mormon that is “uniquely glorious.” According to Nibley, “In the Book of Mormon, the hosts that sit in the darkness are the Nephites themselves,” and Jesus’s descent from heaven to the temple in Bountiful mirrors His descent into Sheol.17 In both texts, Jesus descends in glory, preaches to the more righteous part of the people, discusses the need for baptism, and preaches the doctrine all must know so they can ascend with Him to His Father’s kingdom.
4. Resurrection of the Dead Explained
Fourth, Jesus taught the Apostles about the resurrection of the dead in “a series of real appearances continuing the personal tutelage and supervision of the 40 days.” Jesus furthermore promised to make additional appearances to His Apostles as they went about their ministry, and many of the apocryphal acts of individual Apostles portray Jesus as active in their ministry as well.18 Just as Jesus continued to appear to His Apostles, so too did He continue to appear to His twelve Nephite disciples after preparing them for their individual ministries (see 3 Nephi 27–28).
The Why
Many of the texts regarding the forty-day ministry of Jesus Christ were not available until well after the Book of Mormon was published. The Coptic Gospel of the Twelve Apostles referred to by Nibley, for example, was not published until 1904. Similarly, The Epistle of the Apostles was first discovered in 1895. There is also no evidence that Joseph Smith had access to any apocryphal New Testament literature while translating the Book of Mormon. Even if he had, it would have been difficult to combine all the pertinent details into a coherent narrative that did not plagiarize any known texts while still containing details that would have been familiar to an ancient audience.
For the Book of Mormon to contain a depiction of Christ’s post-Resurrection ministry that so closely resembles and complements what ancient Christians said about this ministry offers further evidence for Joseph Smith’s unwavering explanations regarding its origin. These similarities have rightly led Hugh Nibley to conclude that these writings in 3 Nephi “belong to the earliest stratum of Christian writing.”19
Furthermore, Nibley observed that 3 Nephi “proceeds where religious scholars and poets have feared to tread” regarding the post-Resurrection ministry of Christ. This has led some critics in years past to explain 3 Nephi “as an example of Joseph Smith’s impudence—a desperate argument. The other explanation—that he was translating an authentic document—deserves a fair hearing.”20 Indeed, the Book of Mormon “scores many points” as time moves on and as new findings continue to vindicate the prophets.21
Hugh Nibley, Teachings of the Book of Mormon, Semester 4: Transcripts of Lectures Presented to an Honors Book of Mormon Class at Brigham Young University, 1988–1990 (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS]; Covenant Communications, 2004), 69–80, 115–126.
Hugh Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” in The Prophetic Book of Mormon (FARMS; Deseret Book, 1989).
John Gee, “Jesus Christ: Forty-Day Ministry and Other Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (Macmillan, 1992), 2:734–736.
Hugh Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum: The Forty-Day Mission of Christ—The Forgotten Heritage,” in Mormonism and Early Christianity (FARMS; Deseret Book, 1987).
- 1. See Hugh Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum: The Forty-Day Mission of Christ—The Forgotten Heritage,” in Mormonism and Early Christianity (Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies [FARMS]; Deseret Book, 1987), 10–44. Nibley’s seminal article was first published in Vigilae Christianae 20 (1966): 1–24, a prestigious academic journal published in the Netherlands. For other important and convenient treatments of the forty-day literature following Nibley, see John Gee, “Jesus Christ: Forty-Day Ministry and Other Post-Resurrection Appearances of Jesus Christ,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (Macmillan, 1992), 2:734–736; S. Kent Brown and C. Wilfred Griggs, “The Postresurrection Ministry,” in Studies in Scripture: Acts to Revelation, vol. 6 of 8, ed. Robert L. Millet (Deseret Book, 1987), 12–23.
- 2. A summary of this can be found in Scripture Central, “What Might Jesus Have Taught His Apostles for Forty Days? (Acts 1:3),” KnoWhy 678 (July 4, 2023).
- 3. Hugh Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” in The Prophetic Book of Mormon (FARMS; Deseret Book, 1989), 408–409.
- 4. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 409.
- 5. For Nibley’s side-by-side comparisons between 3 Nephi and the Coptic Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, see Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 416–428. This text is not to be confused with the Syriac Gospel of the Twelve Apostles discovered in 1899, which offers yet another account of the forty-day ministry that also compares well with the Book of Mormon in some of the points discussed in this article.
- 6. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 409.
- 7. For a discussion on New Testament prophecies of apostasy, see Scripture Central, “What Does the New Testament Teach about the Great Apostasy? (2 Thessalonians 2:3),” KnoWhy 695 (October 17, 2023).
- 8. Epistle of the Apostles 17, in J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford University Press, 1993), 579–580.
- 9. Per Testament of Our Lord 8, Jesus taught that “in the assemblies, and nations, and churches, there shall arise many tumults, for there shall arise evil shepherds . . . lovers of gains, lovers of money,” and guilty of all manner of sin who will lead the nations into unbelief. In James Cooper and Arthur John Maclean, trans., The Testament of Our Lord: Translated into English from the Syriac with Introduction and Notes (T&T Clark, 1902), 55.
- 10. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 410. These teachings were known to the Apostolic and Church Fathers in the Old World from both New Testament and extracanonical sources. Second Clement 5:2–4 includes a saying of Jesus not found in the New Testament that described a time when wolves would have killed the lambs of the church. Other statements in 1 Clement describe how the Apostles will be persecuted leading up to the Apostasy as well. See 1 Clement 1, 3–6, 45–47, 57; see also the Didache 16, which is a first-century document purporting to present teachings of the Apostles to the Gentiles, ending in a series of woes and warnings of the coming Apostasy, not unlike 3 Nephi’s ending with woes for the future church in a call to stay on the covenant path. See Scripture Central, “Why Did Mormon End Third Nephi with Such Serious Woes? (3 Nephi 29:5),” KnoWhy 224 (November 4, 2016).
- 11. See Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum,” 14, 16–17; Brown and Griggs, “The Postresurrection Ministry,” 19–21; Gee, “Forty-Day Ministry,” 2:735.
- 12. Second Book of Jeu 45, in Carl Schmidt, ed., The Books of Jeu and the Untitled Text in the Bruce Codex, trans. Violet Macdermot (Brill, 1978), 106. Repeated mention of sacred garments is made in chapters 45–48 of this text.
- 13. See Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 425–428 for a side-by-side comparison of these two texts.
- 14. Origin, Contra Celsus 6.6, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers: Translations of the Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. 325, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, vol. 4 (Eerdmans, 1885), 577–578, identified how the Apostles knew and had been taught “what things were to be committed to writing, and how this was to be done, and what was by no means to be written to the multitude, and what was to be expressed in words, and what was not to be so conveyed.”
- 15. See Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum,” 15–17; Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 412–413, 428–431; Gee, “Forty-Day Ministry,” 2:735. For the ancient practice of baptisms for the dead, see Scripture Central, “Why Are People Baptized for the Dead? (1 Corinthians 15:29),” KnoWhy 687 (September 5, 2023). For ancient Christian beliefs regarding Christ preaching to the dead, see Scripture Central, “Why Did Jesus Preach to the Dead? (1 Peter 4:6),” KnoWhy 700 (November 21, 2023).
- 16. Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum,” 16. This is seen, for example, in The Epistle of the Apostles 27: “On that account I have descended and have spoken with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to your fathers the prophets, and have brought to them news that they may come from the rest which is below into heaven, and have given them the right hand of the baptism of life and forgiveness.” Note that the Coptic recension begins by saying, “On that account I have descended to the place of Lazarus,” alluding to Luke 16:23 as a name for Sheol, or the world of spirits. In Elliot, Apocryphal New Testament, 573.
- 17. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 412–413.
- 18. Nibley, “Evangelium Quadraginta Dierum,” 17–18. Some of these apocryphal acts include The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles; Acts of Thomas; Acts of John; Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas; Acts of Saints Andrew and Bartholomew Among the Parthians; and Preaching of Saint James the Just.
- 19. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 416.
- 20. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 431.
- 21. Nibley, “Christ Among the Ruins,” 430.